A Marlton law firm has filed a consumer lawsuit against Whole Foods supermarkets alleging the sugar content of their store brand Greek yogurt is much higher than what the nutritional label says.

The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court on behalf of consumer Mark Bilder of Atlantic County, who bought the yogurt at the Marlton store at Route 73 and Greentree Road in Burlington County. A newer store in Cherry Hill opened this summer.

The DeNittis Osefchen law firm filed this lawsuit last week and a similar one in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia on behalf of other consumers.

The lawsuits seeks class actions against the 13 Whole Foods stores in New Jersey and 10 in Pennsylvania. It alleges the sugar content in the store brand yogurt, “Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Plain Greek Yogurt,” is more than five times higher than the amount listed on its nutritional label.

The products’s nutritional chart lists sugar content at 2 grams per 170 gram serving, but testing has shown 11.4 grams of sugar, according to the suit.

“This written, uniformed statement of fact on each such “Nutrition Facts” label is false,” the lawsuit claims.

The suits seek class action status for Pennsylvania and New Jersey purchasers of the yogurt, respectively, bringing claims of consumer fraud, breach of warranty and other claims from August 2008 to the present.

Joseph Osefchen, a law firm partner, cited a late July report by Consumer Reports magazine, which tested six samples of the yogurt and found it had an average sugar content of more than 11 grams per serving.

Despite this report Whole Foods Market has not pulled the yogurt from its shelves and continues to sell this store brand yogurt bearing the same nutritional label stating it has 2 grams of sugar per serving, he added.

“A lot of people are watching their sugar content these days. Diabetics and others with health concerns are particularly vulnerable to misstatements about sugar content,” said Osefcehn law partner Stephen DeNittis.

“Customers cannot test the contents of a food product themselves to make sure what’s really inside matches what is says on the label. They have to be able to depend on the accuracy of the nutrition label.”

Whole Foods Market Inc. released a statement saying, "This product was tested by a reputable third party lab using FDA-approved testing methodology to determine the labeling. We recognize that Consumer Reports is a trusted publication and are looking into why their test results differ from ours.

A spokeswoman declined comment on specifics in the lawsuits.

The Whole Foods Market’s website says that its product labels are also reviewed by registered dieticians to ensure accuracy.

“Yet, somehow we ended up with a product that has more than five times the amount of sugar claimed on the label. This should not happen,” DeNittis said.